The C Word

and I don't mean "chitlin's"
I know it's supposed to be spelled chitterings, but who says that? I mean really?

Here's the lowdown:

The nodules on my thyroid were first found by a doctor in 2001. They were small, they didn't affect thyroid function, so we left them alone.

This summer, during a routine check up, my favorite doctor "found" them again. And they were bigger. Tests showed they weren't affecting thyroid function *much* but they were definitely bigger. So they needed to come out.

I had the right side and middle of my thyroid removed last Monday (November 19th). No big deal, recovery was a breeze. But this morning at my post-op appointment, I found out that the pathology report isn't so great.

I had a stage I, 1.8 cm carcinoma in the right side of my thyroid.

Because it's more than the 1 cm cutoff for a micro-carcinoma, I have to get the left side of my thyroid and the local lymph nodes removed asap. I head back in to surgery on Friday.

If there's cancer in the left side or lymph nodes, I'll have to do a quick, 2 day radiation thing at the hospital. If there's no other cancer, I might have to do the radiation thing. We'll see.

Regardless, thyroid cancer is pretty easy to beat, so no worries.  Once you get past the whole "THERE IS CANCER IN MY NECK! EW! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!" feeling, it's not so bad. I'm not in any pain or anything.

xoxoxo,
mlb